Josiah is 30 - more Celebrations

Josiah turns thirty today. He planned to spend the day on the ice.  This is a  proper place to reflect on one's twenties.  Josiah has been tempered - those traits we saw in him in the 20's are shining pure gold. He has goals and takes positive steps to reach them. He's kind. He's giving. He's compassionate. God has seen him through some windy paths...and he's running straight on this side.

Nolan has to work today. We'll have everyone over tomorrow to celebrate. Michael and Alex have men's breakfast and Stacia is visiting Bre and the kidlets. 

After breakfast, Michael and Alex joined Josiah at the local lake. It was a good time. No one should spend their entire birthday alone. Good call, Michael.  I have not one picture (is this a blogging family or WHAT). They caught 15 fish and took them to BreZaak.

This evening we decided to remedy a few elements in Nolan's birthday celebration. We got home from Eagle River late enough that he opted for bed rather than cake. 0430 comes early.  We pulled out the cake Michael and Stacia had made....and no Gherkin birthday is complete without the pig hat.

Putting this photo first so it shows in the preview 

Bennett and Arielle joined us.

 As is often the case, we didn't have the right number of candles on hand....Michael is great at improvising.

Ye' old Party Animal Hat - Pig Hat

Nolan is 20!

Just like that Nolan is 20!  He has opted for us not to give him gifts,  per se. He will take the money the four of us would have spent on gifts,  and we'll all catch a couple of movies in the upcoming season.

He and Alex (birthday on Monday) both like Panda. We decided to head into Eagle River to Panda Express. We texted the crew to see if they would like to join us. They did.

Jamin, Michael, Stacia, Alex, Josiah, Nolan, Me

 This is a milestone year for both these Gherkins. Nolan turns 20 today; Josiah turns 30 tomorrow.  We'll celebrate all the February birthdays on Sunday.

Blurry phone camera - but I refuse to miss the shot

Larissa arrived bearing  awesome yumminess! Panda allowed us to bring it in for dessert. 

It always does my heart good to catch up with Larissa! 

Larissa, Me, Stacia

We are thrilled as we get to know the man of God, Nolan has become. He's kind and considerate. He's fun to be around. He is thinker. He doesn't jump into things willy-nilly. He's about to be promoted at his first job (in the process of all the tests and background checks). He's evaluating college options.

Early Spring? Hmmm.

I'm hearing talk of "early spring" from friends outside,  (as in the outside of Alaska). This makes me evaluate. I used to LOVE spring...the trees budding, tulips starting to pop out of the ground, warmer days, greening grass - early signs of spring.

Around here....the sun is rising earlier and setting later.  A quick look out the window, however, tells one it will be quite a bit longer before spring truly arrives this far north. There are no buds....and nothing green to be seen for miles. I need to learn new observation skills to detect springs arrival up here.

Last year I started seeds in February. I have no clue when I will start them this year - but NOT in February. I was done with them before it was time to plant to garden! LOL

Playing Catch with Grandpa

Benny talked Arielle into coming up so he could visit "his people." He brought his green tennis ball for a game of catch Grandpa/Papa. 

Want me to throw it? 

Ok- Catch! 

He catches with a "bit" of help from his mama! 

Socializing with Family

Nolan had the day off today and it seems like we have been too busy to connect lately. I asked if he'd like to grab lunch together. We headed to one of "my girly restaurants." They aren't really "girly," they just don't serve the portions of food Michael likes to get when he goes out to eat. ::snort:: He likes to point out $12 is too much for a sandwich, but around here we pay the same or more at a diner for a hamburger....if I can get a vegetarian sandwich, rather than iceberg lettuce for $12....just sayin.

Nolan and I are both happy with our meals. He had a BLBMXYZ with German potato salad. I had a lentil/rice patty with zucchini and caramelized onions....and a salad.  We went at 1 p.m. and it was much more conducive for visiting than going from 11 - 1200.  Better than the food and the fun atmosphere, was just spending time together and talking about his upcoming plans and how life is going for him.

We stopped at BreZaak's on the way home to check in on Bre and the kids. The kids were finishing lunch, Bre was about to sit down for hers.....and sweet Annalise....

....was napping in the middle of it all. It's hard work being 3 weeks old. 

We returned home to find Arielle and Benny visiting upstairs. Grandpa and Benny have a ton of fun together. Their faces say it all.....

The only thing bigger than Michael's smile, is Benny's

Grandpa loves to come up with new games for them to play. Today it was riding the horse and jumping to Mommy.  Below is a quick video clip. 

Krista Rocks the Black Boot

We did it! We  managed to get our monthly shopping done! Our last trip was Dec 11th. We spent $584 picking things up locally in January - but that's IT.  Today we spent $750.  I THINK this is saving us money. I'll probably average out the total spending between Dec-Feb to see for sure. December was high, but we had company and a couple of total family dinners, with several other hospitality events at the house and I canned 3 gal of spaghetti sauce which will be eaten over the next 6 months or so.....January was really low. I think our truth will lie in February and March.

 It only took us 2 hours today from the time we pulled into the parking lot, to the time we left the parking lot. MUCH quicker than the 5 hour trip in December.

Via Google Photos

We discovered the 3% tax in Wasilla apply to FOOD! Every other state we've lived in food was exempt. We were just assuming the tax had been on our non-food items. We may make another price comparison trip to the commissary. The service fee there is 5%, plus the bag tip....and the gas....but if we are doing a once a month trip....maybe. We shall see.  When we checked it out it was far cheaper for us to shop at Walmart or even Fred Myers than the commissary.....but we didn't factor in the tax.

In other news....we put away groceries. ::snort:: I did a bit more reading up for tonight's study. We started our study of 1 John locally (as well as Bible Babes, the online study group I co-lead). It's snowing again. Snow is beautiful.

I enjoyed quite a few polos today.....Krista's made me smile. She's in the middle of a building project where she works at  Providence Veteran's Farm.   She's also rocking a black boot.

She fell while on a church work project...and broke her ankle. This puts her out of PT training for 6 weeks - which is a bummer - her goal of scoring 100% was in reach. It's unlikely now as she won't be able to train hard for a few months.  AND she and Maria are moving into a house this month, and gaining two new roommates. Please pray for all of them. This is a frustrating time for Krista to be laid up....it's also her last semester at Liberty!!!!

Aging Body - Big God or The Week Turned Out Different That Expected LOL

On the Friday, the 25th, I had been lifting a 23  qt pressure canner filled with 2 layers of jars, I bent over,  and put my back out. It was so painful I couldn't stand or walk. I couldn't sleep in bed or roll over. If I sit for any length of time it was incredibly painful to get up.

I had been canning Chili Beans (8 quarts), pinto beans (9 pints) and Kokane (lake salmon) and trout (9 1/2 pints and 9 pints).  We don't really like fish. ::blush:: If I smoke these and then can them we can snack on them or use them as tuna. I had a plan to make a big batch of spaghetti sauce and can it - but my back woes called for complete rest. LOL

I spent Saturday and Sunday (26th and 27th) sitting in a recliner with ice and heat. I got a lot of reading done over the weekend. I finished "Half the church," "The Blue Parakeet," "Stand by Me" and "Come to the Table." I began "Prayer," by Timothy Keller and my reading slowed considerably.  Josiah and Jamin dropped by on Sunday night. Josiah proved himself to be Stacia's continuing hero by killing spiders in her room.

I knew I needed to get UP on Monday and finish pulling together the reading plan and resources for our new study of 1 John. I needed to pass out these materials at the last week of our Jonah study. It took me 8 hours. Yes, I HAD done some of it before. HOWEVER, I did the math wrong and thought we only had 80 verses to cover. I had scheduled it for a 4 week stint to end when spring break began. It became clear poor math basics had struck when I finished the 4th week and had chapters left. ::snort:: I started over, it will take 5 weeks and we'll skip our break between studies so we still finish by Spring Break.

Sticky notes and a pen - my favorite tools for thinking through a study

Monday my back hurt pretty bad, but I could get up and hobble around. I did cringe and moan from time to time.

Tuesday (29th) I did NOT do my monthly shopping. I knew I would be miserable by the evening study if I didn't take it easy. Stacia was my legs and we inventoried the freezer and the pantry. Then we created a 4 week menu and finally generated a shopping list based on that for the month of February. I hoped to go shopping on Wed. At this point I still thought it was essential to go shopping before Life Group on Thursday - but I've said that since the first week in January.

Recipes on the ipad, dinner ideas, shopping list and the pantry list in my bujo

My back simply wasn't cooperating on Wednesday.  Shopping didn't happen on Thursday either. I stayed in my recliner and rested, prayed and read.  I also watched Benny and was amused by photos Stacia took of my favorite chicken, Rosie.

Hey there, Bright Eyes! 

WHAT are you doing? 

Rosie - our favorite hen

Even Michael likes her - he's checking out some feather loss

Thursday night some at Life Group prayed for my back. When everyone left I realized my back felt better than it had for days. I slept in bed for a few hours before having to move to the recliner.

I woke up Friday (1st) and was AMAZED at how much better my back felt. It was achy at times but  it wasn't the PAIN I had had all week. I could dress without crying. I was walking a bit faster.  I had prayed all week for God to heal my back, in His time he did just that.

I led our last Jonah study on Friday morning (yes, we have two groups Tuesday night and Friday morning). I knew I needed to rest in the afternoon and not push too much as we had Friday evening plans as well.

Benny loves to perch at the stairs leading from their
apartment to "upstairs" where "his people" live. 

Cory and Benny - so sweet together

I woke on Saturday and felt great. In a burst of energy I decided to do the canning I'd not been able to do during the week. I filled the pressure canner with chicken and beans and started it heating up. While it was doing it's thing I planned to get the spaghetti sauce started.....

Optimistic - Let's Get er Done! 

I had a freak accident. I grabbed a gas, lit burner.....as Michael said, I  branded myself. I spent the next hour with my hand under ice-cold running water. Michael brought home some lidacaine and I switched to ice for the night. Hard to sleep standing near running water or with a bowl of ice water in bed. It could have been so much worse.

Benny entertained me by showing me his ball throwing skill. LOL 

Once again I was in pain. It DID feel much better by Sunday morning. It was blistering and throbbing, but wasn't driving me to tears. A friend prayed with me in the restroom. The throbbing settled down during worship.

At home I took the band aids off and the BLISTERS WERE GONE! Imagine, I got to see God work in my broken body twice in one week. I never would have seen it without the pain to cause the need...you know? I am content with the whole thing. LOL  My fingers still have some discoloration and two of them are numb where they were burned....but I am amazed the blisters just disappeared.  I took the opportunity to finish canning the sauce.

This weekend's work - 11 qts sauce, 6 pts chicken, 8 pts black beans 

That brings us to today! Today was to be the first day of my new choosing health regime. I wanted to work out but knew I needed to go to the library and get the monthly shopping done. I also needed to look up a tricky doctrinal issue in 1 John before tomorrow night. I started on 1 John. Hours later, I forced myself to take a shower so I could run the errands and go shopping.

We got 5 inches of snow last night. Stacia and I shoveled around the van and cleaned it off, scarped the windows....and it wouldn't start. The battery was DEAD.  We came inside to talk about what we should do. Michael was sleeping in the living room. We talked in the kitchen and I said, "Maybe we should take your Dad's truck."

"What???, What is going on?" ::snort::

Now we know how to wake him up. Michael went to get a new battery for the van. He also ran the library errand and got my account unblocked. I owed .50.  It was apparent there was no time to do a monthly shopping trip, so I started chicken to make enchiladas, changed into my workout clothes, and got 45 min on the elliptical in after all.

Maybe I'll go shopping tomorrow. Maybe not. It doesn't matter....it'll get done....surely before Life Group. ::snort::